Final Pictures of my African Gourd

Well, its finally finished. Here are a couple of pics. We had a Final Bead Celebration at the gallery.

Here is another pic

Here is another

Last one of the Rhino

I even got a congraulations kiss from this tall dark stranger. Just kidding, Its my DH.

Forgot to put the picture in. Heheh. I forgot to add that it took 2 1/2 years to complete. So congradulations were diffinately in order. But it was almost like finishing a good book you don't want it to end. I've already started my next one. It is going to be the Buffalo on the Plains. It is even bigger then this one. Whew!

Jan don't mean to show my ignorance here but is this gourd something you grew special and then painted? Looks pretty elaborate.

Hi Lenjo. No, The gourd has been covered with beeswax and then beaded one bead at a time. The animals are sculpted out of wax too. There is no paint only beads. If you know beads they are all 13/0 in size. The gourd measures 52 inches around and is beaded bottom to top. That is why it took 2 1/2 years to complete. Hehe

Lenjo, if you will email me I can send you some better pics of close ups. I can't get them on here as my camera won't go smaller in pixels to show you. My email is gandolf183@aol.com

Jan, my computer is so so slow downloading photos. I really would love to see it closer but I am afraid pictures just clog things up for me. So sorry.

Jan, your work is just lovely. I too would love to see it up close. You can go here and download this trusted program http://www.irfanview.com. It is free. I have been using it for years to resize my pictures. It is real easy to use.

I am going to try and show some close ups of the gourd so you can get a better idea of what it looks like.

More

more, this is the bottom. It is the continent of Africa

The lion and lioness

Whoops, sorry, did this one twice

This message was edited Nov 8, 2005 1:31 AM

The top is the African Rose

The Rhino

The last one. I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures. If you want any info on how to's I will be glad to give it to you. Patience is a must though. hehe

That gourd is absolutley gorgeous! A True Marvel; remarkable. Lots of kudos to you Jan.

~* Robin

The beads are no bigger then this ( * ) and that maybe even bigger then the beads.

How did you acheive the raised 'puffy' look?

~* Robin

I cover the gourd in beeswax and then I sculpt all the animals out of beeswax. Then I bead it all one bead at a time from bottom to top. I build up several layers of wax and then sculpt it back down to form the animals.

Fantastic accomplishment Jan. Congratulations. It is beautiful.

WOW!!!!!

Folks, since I have watched the progress of this wonderful piece of art for about 2 years now, I can tell you from first hand experience that pictures Cannot do it justice!!

Jan...I can't wait until Tuesday when you bring THE GOURD over to my Gourd Group's meeting at my house....I'll know it will be a big hit with the rest of the ladies in the group.

Jo

This is really amazing. I make gourd vessels and belong to one of the several gourd societies in Southern California where gourd artisans abound. We have no trouble buying or growing them here....I truly have never seen anything like this. I can and do appreciate the amount of work you have put into this....I'm surprised it only took 2 years! I have worked in fimo on gourds but never beeswax! . Congratulations on a lovely piece of work.

Sagelady....share some of your work with us. Jo

OH, Jan. OMG! That is breathtaking craftsmanship. Wow. You really do need to start a website and feature galleries of your work. That is just beautiful!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I plan on building a web site just to show the work but it takes so long that I couldn't mass produce these.

Jan, that is really amazing to me. Patience must be your middle name.

Thank you elsie. Hehe, yes I am patient with my art work. Not so patient with other things. Here are a couple of photos of the new one I am working on. It is still in the sculpting stage as I am waiting for more wax. I just started to bead the first buffalo. This one will be called "Where the Buffalo Roam". I will show more pics as the work progresses.

This message was edited Nov 21, 2005 4:12 PM

One more pic or two. This gourd is 52" around. I don't plan on beading the top but am going to apply the actual wooly hide of the buffalo. On the bottom I will apply the slicker part of the hide. I am adding the Indian as they were a big part of the buffalo. The largest buffalo is going to be the White spirit buffalo believed to have spiritual powers.

It is going to be awesome also. Jo

Jan, you are a gifted sculptor. Tell me something, does the wax hold the beads in place, or do you have to use some sort of adhesive with it?

I bead under a lamp and the lamp softens the wax enough to allow me to imbed the bead into the wax. I use no adhesive as the wax comes up through the hole of the bead and the beads surrounding each bead helps to hold them all in place.

jan,
thank you for sharing your incredible art work with me. wow!!! i would love to see them in person, i bet they are outstanding and i would just stand there looking at them with my mouth partway open and totally speachless. yep that sounds about right. :-)
god bless,
debi & franklin

WOW!

Your work is incredible!

I have been asked to teach a class on beading gourds at the local bead shop in Newport. I made up a little one so that they could see that everything doesn't have to be done large. What do you think